ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Album Notes

Cuba's most famed dance band of all time is as strong as ever with their 2005 release Sandunguera. From the beginning of their recording career, with Songo, los Van Van (the Go Go's) have made it their business to fuse styles and cross lines. Since forging their signature sound, the group has not shifted significantly in any one direction or another. As with many groups coming out of Latin America, there's at least a five-year lag in production value for what North American audiences might expect from a new release. This 2005 recording sounds very much like some of their first. With some of the telltale synth drum sounds and processed vocals, they are still los Van Van. On a very positive note, bass player/musical director Juan Formell writes the funkiest vamps in Cuban music, and they're all here. Revolutionary percussionist Jose "Changuito" Quintana is in rare form, with grooves so incendiary that there's no mistake why his name is among the greats. With the combination of both new names on the roster, and these groundbreaking veterans who helped carve the path of Cuban music over the last two decades, Sandunguera will delight and excite.

It’s not hard to get tongue-tied when an album of such caliber crosses our desks here. Nevertheless, we are simply thrilled to present the 2005 release, Sandunguera, of Cuban’s most famous dance band, Los Van Van, originally formed December 4, 1959. Having remained the island’s most popular group for three decades and counting, having more than 50 hits over the long years of its life, this band is of integral importance to the history of Timba as well as the general scope of Cuban music. Los Van Van has not only kept up with the times and held onto a gleaming, contemporary sound over the course of the years but they have also remained steadfast in their commitment to vision and creativity, never abandoning musical integrity to stay hip. Driven by one the most important figures in the history of Cuban music, bassist, composer, arranger and director/founder, Juan Formell, this band is still an icon of Latin music and a stethoscope on the pulse of the genre as it has grown and matured.